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Co-op horse

The ticket was the top copy had your co op number & how much was your bill,the carbon copy under was sent to head office and this was how your divi was worked out & paid out twice a year
 
Mom's divi number 325491. Always had co-op milk right up until I married and even invited our milkman Eddie to our evening reception.
 
141670 and 36150. I was a service engineer for Hugin cash registers, mainly installed in Coop shops all over the UK in the 50s 60s 70s.
 

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Further to my previous message. As a 'Hugin' cash register Service Engineer we were based in the CWS cycle factory Kings Road Haymills, later at the CWS factory in Belmont Row, which was unused at the time.
 
I remember the lovely smell when they reached in the back of the wagon to bring the bread toward them with a pole with a nail through it, great days....no crappy wet sliced bread in those days, wet bread that goes mouldy quickly.
 
In the early 1950s i remember the co-op breadman driving a two wheeled chariot shaped vehicle pulled by a single horse.
It was painted with the wheatsheaf logo (not the horse),the breadman jumped off and on the back of the chariot with a basket full of loaves and cobs then take it to your door.The horse kept walking until he knew where to stop.The breadman usually fed the horse oats at certain stops.
The breadman and the horse were retired together.
This was the Tyseley area.
Stephen.
 
I remember the Co-op bread-man and the milkman coming round with horse-drawn trailers in the 1950s in Alum Rock. As mentioned above, the horse knew where on the kerb to stop while the Co-op man just got on with either the bread or milk delivery. I too was enlisted complete with coal-shovel and bucket to collect the 'rose fertilizer' for my grandad before anyone else got it.
And I remember 'the last day' of horse-drawn deliveries, when the horse was given carrots at every stop - we were assured he was retired to a field somewhere after his working life was over, I hope that was true.
One additional memory, which I'm sure others would share, concerned the milk cart. On the tail end stood a milk churn, which I found out contained milk direct from the farm, i.e. unpasteurized, because some of the older customers still wanted this. One day when the milkman arrived, my nan came out of the house and demanded that my mom bought a glass of this milk and gave it to me to drink. The 'old wives tale' was apparently that a glass of this untreated milk would protect the drinker for ever against TB (!!). We normally had sterilized milk (even more boiled that pasteurize ). My mom refused to give me any, my nan insisted, and the end of the story saw nan get her way, the milkman produce a ladle/measure from somewhere, draw a pint from the churn and pour it into a cup (provided by nan) with me being told to drink it....I got away with drinking about half of it, and, have not (to date, and now 70+) had TB..so it must be true....
Did anyone else experience the same?
And, nan's Co-op number was 98703...as others say, you never forget it!
 
TommoCo said:
I remember the Co-op bread-man and the milkman coming round with horse-drawn trailers in the 1950s in Alum Rock. As mentioned above, the horse knew where on the kerb to stop while the Co-op man just got on with either the bread or milk delivery. I too was enlisted complete with coal-shovel and bucket to collect the 'rose fertilizer' for my grandad before anyone else got it.
And I remember 'the last day' of horse-drawn deliveries, when the horse was given carrots at every stop - we were assured he was retired to a field somewhere after his working life was over, I hope that was true.
One additional memory, which I'm sure others would share, concerned the milk cart. On the tail end stood a milk churn, which I found out contained milk direct from the farm, i.e. unpasteurized, because some of the older customers still wanted this. One day when the milkman arrived, my nan came out of the house and demanded that my mom bought a glass of this milk and gave it to me to drink. The 'old wives tale' was apparently that a glass of this untreated milk would protect the drinker for ever against TB (!!). We normally had sterilized milk (even more boiled that pasteurize ). My mom refused to give me any, my nan insisted, and the end of the story saw nan get her way, the milkman produce a ladle/measure from somewhere, draw a pint from the churn and pour it into a cup (provided by nan) with me being told to drink it....I got away with drinking about half of it, and, have not (to date, and now 70+) had TB..so it must be true....
Did anyone else experience the same?
And, nan's Co-op number was 98703...as others say, you never forget it!
Click to expand...
Thanks TommoCo,
All these memories keep flooding back after reading some of these threads.Unfortunately at school i had the BCG scratch on arm and i reacted to it,but luckily after tests iwas told i had caught TB as a very young boy but it cleared it self up,many years later i'm still OK.
Yes i remember when the breadman told us and his other customers that he retiring and a new bloke was going to take over his round and that his horse would be put out to graze. NO more horse NO more fertilizer.
Tell me DO YOU remember the open backed chariot bread cart? I have asked many people but no one have said yes, Am i going barmy or
what?
Stephen.
 
Last edited:
My mom's number was 373754. There were stables in Anderton Road, Sparkbrook which I'm reasonably sure we're for the Co-op horses. They would have been part of, or adjacent to the council yard on the corner of Anderton Road and Montgomery Street.
 
TommoCo said:
I remember the Co-op bread-man and the milkman coming round with horse-drawn trailers in the 1950s in Alum Rock. As mentioned above, the horse knew where on the kerb to stop while the Co-op man just got on with either the bread or milk delivery. I too was enlisted complete with coal-shovel and bucket to collect the 'rose fertilizer' for my grandad before anyone else got it.
And I remember 'the last day' of horse-drawn deliveries, when the horse was given carrots at every stop - we were assured he was retired to a field somewhere after his working life was over, I hope that was true.
One additional memory, which I'm sure others would share, concerned the milk cart. On the tail end stood a milk churn, which I found out contained milk direct from the farm, i.e. unpasteurized, because some of the older customers still wanted this. One day when the milkman arrived, my nan came out of the house and demanded that my mom bought a glass of this milk and gave it to me to drink. The 'old wives tale' was apparently that a glass of this untreated milk would protect the drinker for ever against TB (!!). We normally had sterilized milk (even more boiled that pasteurize ). My mom refused to give me any, my nan insisted, and the end of the story saw nan get her way, the milkman produce a ladle/measure from somewhere, draw a pint from the churn and pour it into a cup (provided by nan) with me being told to drink it....I got away with drinking about half of it, and, have not (to date, and now 70+) had TB..so it must be true....
Did anyone else experience the same?
And, nan's Co-op number was 98703...as others say, you never forget it!
Click to expand...
My moms number was 200038.
 
Butcher boy said:
Thanks TommoCo,
All these memories keep flooding back after reading some of these threads.Unfortunately at school i had the BCG scratch on arm and i reacted to it,but luckily after tests iwas told i had caught TB as a very young boy but it cleared it self up,many years later i'm still OK.
Yes i remember when the breadman told us and his other customers that he retiring and a new bloke was going to take over his round and that his horse would be put out to graze. NO more horse NO more fertilizer.
Tell me DO YOU remember the open backed chariot bread cart? I have asked many people but no one have said yes, Am i going barmy or
what?
Stephen.
Click to expand...
I wish I could just say yes, but the truth is that I can't remember either of them, the milkman's or the bread man's cart, all I can remember about the carts is a flat back-end. So, it could have been like a chariot, I simply can't remember. What is clear in my mind is the milkman, my mon and nan, the churn on the back end of his cart and the ladle measuring it out into a glass - I think I remember it so well because I was scared at the time (because mom was) that I would catch something horrible from it.
 
TommoCo said:
I wish I could just say yes, but the truth is that I can't remember either of them, the milkman's or the bread man's cart, all I can remember about the carts is a flat back-end. So, it could have been like a chariot, I simply can't remember. What is clear in my mind is the milkman, my mon and nan, the churn on the back end of his cart and the ladle measuring it out into a glass - I think I remember it so well because I was scared at the time (because mom was) that I would catch something horrible from it.
Click to expand...
OK Thanks anyway.Your right the memory cells are shutting down,its only when chatting to you and others on this site that you realise how much you have forgotten.....Anyway i hope you and yours have a "MERRY CHRISTMAS"
Steve.
 
Butcher boy said:
OK Thanks anyway.Your right the memory cells are shutting down,its only when chatting to you and others on this site that you realise how much you have forgotten.....Anyway i hope you and yours have a "MERRY CHRISTMAS"
Steve.
Click to expand...
As you say, the memory cells shut down, although just because no-one else remembers doesn't mean it isn't true. It wouldn't surprise me if they used a milk cart shaped like a chariot even though no-one else on here remembers, It's like my ladle of unpasteurized milk....no one else seems to have experienced it, but I know it happened!
Hope you and yours have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year too.
 
TommoCo said:
As you say, the memory cells shut down, although just because no-one else remembers doesn't mean it isn't true. It wouldn't surprise me if they used a milk cart shaped like a chariot even though no-one else on here remembers, It's like my ladle of unpasteurized milk....no one else seems to have experienced it, but I know it happened!
Hope you and yours have a good Christmas and a Happy New Year too.
Click to expand...
Well TommcCo, you will find, by doing a search, that a good many Forum members have memories recorded here about milk floats and presumably unpasteurised milk. It is surprising what details, on many subjects, are to be found here.
 
mikejee said:
There were carts like this, photos being on http://www.gail-thornton.co.uk/trade-vehicles/dairy.php. The third photo has Lea Hall Farm on the back, so might have been in the Birmingham area, though there are other Lea Hall Farms
Click to expand...
Many thanks for the photos and yes they are chariot shaped, perhaps i'm not going barmy after all.
Mikejee have yourself a MERRY CHRISTMAS and all the best.
Steve.
 
Radiorails said:
Well TommcCo, you will find, by doing a search, that a good many Forum members have memories recorded here about milk floats and presumably unpasteurised milk. It is surprising what details, on many subjects, are to be found here.
Click to expand...
Hello Radiorails, I have found a confirmation of the unpasteurised churn on the milk cart under Cadbury's Bournville, thank you, as follows -
The 'old wives tale' about TB however remains to be confirmed.
As you say, there are many other posts, and as a new-comer I've been reading (and trying not to add to all of the threads of 10+years ago) as many as I can without finding it's gone midnight and time has flown while I've been engrossed for a couple of hours or more.
It's a great website with wonderful memories shared.
 
Clive F said:
My mom's number was 373754. There were stables in Anderton Road, Sparkbrook which I'm reasonably sure we're for the Co-op horses. They would have been part of, or adjacent to the council yard on the corner of Anderton Road and Montgomery Street.
Click to expand...
How lovely to read just a small bit about the Co-op horses. My gran with her friend worked for the Co-op on a horse called Jerry. You can see by the sign, I would think based in Coventry. I believe my gran travelled to Coventry from B'ham. I know this is going to be a wild question to ask but does anyone recognise the lady with my gran. My gran was called May Jones and is the lady in the white hat. Co-op Lady in white not known May Jones and Jerricue.jpg
 
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